Richard Torrez Jr. continues path toward heavyweight stardom with critical bout against Guido Vianello

Boxing’s heavyweight champion once carried the mythical title of “baddest man on the planet.” 

In the 20th century — from Jack Johnson to Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis to Rocky Marciano, from Muhammad Ali to George Foreman and Larry Holmes to Mike Tyson — America produced champion after champion.

That list doesn’t even consider other great American heavyweights like Gene Tunney, Joe Frazier and Evander Holyfield.

For most of the 20th century, the heavyweight champion held a special place in the sporting landscape. They graced magazine covers and cereal boxes, were regulars on the late-night circuit, and appeared at Super Bowls and World Series games.

An American heavyweight champion is a distant memory now, not quite as extinct as the dinosaurs that once roamed these lands, but close.

As boxing lost its grip on the American mainstream over the last five decades, the NFL and NBA were ascending, drawing away the same elite athletes who in the past had naturally gravitated to boxing.

It’s far easier — and far more lucrative — to become a star in football, basketball, baseball or even hockey. Both come with risk, but football offers more opportunity, and vastly greater financial reward. 

Many of the men who might have once become heavyweight champions are now suiting up in the NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL.

Imagine how frightening that Myles Garrett, the 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, or Kawhi Leonard, a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team, would be as heavyweight boxers.

There’s only one heavyweight champion — or should be, at least — and there are 32 NFL starting quarterbacks. 

The odds of hitting it big as a young American athlete are far better in other sports. You don’t even have to be a borderline Hall of Famer to hit the jackpot in the NFL if you can play the sport’s most demanding position.

Kirk Cousins has made $294.1 million in an NFL career that has been good but hardly great. He’s 1-4 in the playoffs and never even played in a conference championship game. He’s never led the league in passing yards, touchdown passes or quarterback rating, and he’s never won the league MVP.

Yet, in 13 completed seasons, he’s earned an average of $18 million a year and in 2025 he’ll make $27 million as the Atlanta Falcons’ backup. Nice work, if you can get it.

But at 6 feet 3, 225 or so pounds, it’s not hard to project that an athlete as good as Cousins could have been an elite heavyweight had he followed that path from a young age.

The 21st century has seen the title drift and it’s now almost the exclusive domain of Europeans.

In the last 20 years, only eight Americans have held even a share of a world heavyweight title belt. None of them have ever been the man in the division. Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, Lamon Brewster, Hasim Rahman, Shannon Briggs, Deontay Wilder, Charles Martin and Andy Ruiz are the only Americans since 2005 to hold legitimate world heavyweight titles.

Oleksandr Usyk, the Ukrainian who won the undisputed belt in the ring and now has the WBA, WBC and WBO belts, is the king of the division now. He surrendered the IBF belt, which England’s Daniel Dubois later claimed.

Usyk, though, said he’s only going to fight twice more. Most of the other contenders — Anthony Joshua, Joseph Parker and Agit Kabayel — are on the back half of the back nine.

That leaves room for the new generation to emerge. And while 20-year-old Moses Itauma gets most of the attention, any list of potential future champions wouldn’t be nearly complete without 25-year-old American Richard Torrez Jr.

“It’s been really hard because I feel like Top Rank’s really been trying to slowly build me,” Torrez said. 

A 2020 Olympic super heavyweight silver medalist in Tokyo, Torrez is 12-0 with 11 KOs. The only bout he didn’t win by knockout came when opponent Joey Dawejko was disqualified for repeatedly spitting out the mouthpiece.

It was obvious Dawejko had had enough and spitting the mouthpiece out was a way to end the fight without absorbing any more of Torrez’ powerful shots.

The hype hasn’t hit a crescendo around Torrez because of the slow build and because he’s finished nine of his 12 bouts in three rounds or less.

On Saturday, Torrez will face Guido Vianello at The Palms in Las Vegas in the toughest test of his career. A 2016 Olympian from Italy, Vianello is 13-2-1 with 11 knockouts and coming in off an impressive TKO of Arslanbek Makhmudov.

“A lot of people are trying to downplay some of the other guys I’ve fought, like some veterans and stuff like that, but it’s really hard to downplay Guido,”  Torrez said. 

Torrez is at that critical stage of his career where the opposition needs to improve, but he also can’t be reckless. Another Top Rank heavyweight, Jared Anderson, accepted a lucrative opportunity to face Martin Bakole last year — a risk that backfired when he was dominated and knocked out in the fifth.

The armchair critics were out in force and ripped Anderson for going for the money, but he saw an opportunity and took his shot.

Torrez said he relies on the advice of the matchmakers at Top Rank and his father, Richard Sr. He said they’re the ones who will have to pull back on the reins because a fighter must have full belief in order to succeed.

“To be a fighter in this division, and to thrive at anything you do, you have to believe you’re the best,” Torrez said. “Jared went into that fight knowing full well that he thought that way and believing in himself. He fought Bakole believing it would confirm his [opinion]. He wanted to validate that in the ring.

“I don’t knock Jared for taking that fight because just like him, I don’t say no to fights.”

It’s a delicate balance. Fight too many guys like Dawejko and you get criticized for fighting C-level opposition. Take big money to fight a Bakole early in your career and you’re blasted for rushing.

Torrez has the power and the boxing ability to make it to the top. He needs to be handled with care and moved up as appropriate.

But he’s never one to hold back.

“My Dad likes to compare me to a dog on a chain,” Torrez said. “If he lets me go, I’m going for whatever.”

He’s going for Vianello on Saturday. If he gets that one, well, he’s officially out of prospect status and should be stamped a contender.

At that point, it’s a matter of going out and doing what he’s done most of his life: Winning.

Torrez is chasing a title, but he’s also looking to change the course of recent boxing history.

If he continues the progress he’s made as a pro, it may not be that long before an American heavyweight once again takes that massive step and reclaims the throne in boxing’s glamor division.